Air Cooling vs Liquid Cooling? Pros, Cons, and Differences
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Arishok N7
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- Aug 6, 2012
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It all depends on what you're doing, and what hardware you have. A full liquid cooling unit vs a full fan unit, the liquid will win. But a full liquid cooling system will be much much more expensive. I have my CPU liquid cooled, but everything else is air cooled. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loading up your case with the max amount of fans you can. The difference of the two is obvious. Air vs liquid. A pro for liquid is that you will see better temps. A con like I said, is that it's more expensive. A pro for air is that is pretty cheap to get max fans for your case. A con would be your not going to get better temps over liquid cooling. There are some good fans out there though. Like I said, it just depends on what you're planning to do with the system. And obviously what can fit in your case.
freeracercolin
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Differences: Different installation, different challenges.
Water:
PRO: Disperses more heat, no RAM or mosfet interference, looks cooler (no pun intended, opinion)
CON: More failure points, harder installation
Air:
PRO: Less failure points, easier to install
CON: Disperses less heat (generally), RAM and mosfet clearance issues (possibly, all depends on what you get).
Water:
PRO: Disperses more heat, no RAM or mosfet interference, looks cooler (no pun intended, opinion)
CON: More failure points, harder installation
Air:
PRO: Less failure points, easier to install
CON: Disperses less heat (generally), RAM and mosfet clearance issues (possibly, all depends on what you get).
pigsinspace72
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- Feb 18, 2014
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And an all in one water cooler is about equal in performance to an high end air cooler. Only full on custom loops can give you better performance than air.
jaimelmiel
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Arishok N7
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The best closed loop liquid cooler will beat the best fan and heatsink. And obviously a custom water cooling setup has the potential to beat both of those.
pigsinspace72
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The only all in one liquid cooler I can think of was a swiftech h320 which is sadly not for sale in the united states. The corsair h100i will only give you a 1-2 degrees edge over something like a Noctua NH-D14
Arishok N7
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The NZXT Kraken X60 is a little better than the Corsair h100i. Also, the h110 and the Nepton 280L are dang legit as well.
jaimelmiel
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Unless you are planning on Heavy duty overclocking your good with air.
That said I am thinking about a Cosair H100i for my next upgrade along with a full tower case.
That said I am thinking about a Cosair H100i for my next upgrade along with a full tower case.
Gilbert Bridewell
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My opinion would be that air cooling is easier install and cheaper as with the liquid cooling it's more exspensive and can also leak and cause damage to components.
alexrepstel
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I believe that your final decision will be chosen depending on if you want a really powerful cooler which is easy to install or if you would rather buy a much cheaper one which is harder to install.
Liquid coolers are much more powerful, a mid-range liquid cooler will perform roughly the same with a high-end air cooler. In my opinion you should better play it safe and get a decent cooler which will run with no noise at all.
Of course there are much more to consider before you make your decision.
You can read all the advantages and disadvantages here:
http://repholder.com/liquid-cooling-vs-air-cooling/
Liquid coolers are much more powerful, a mid-range liquid cooler will perform roughly the same with a high-end air cooler. In my opinion you should better play it safe and get a decent cooler which will run with no noise at all.
Of course there are much more to consider before you make your decision.
You can read all the advantages and disadvantages here:
http://repholder.com/liquid-cooling-vs-air-cooling/
4Ryan6
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